A LESSON IN HOW NOT TO STUDY THE BIBLE!!
Weeelll, the following is going to sound oh so right, with the
right words at the right time, to give you the impression this is
how to study the Bible; but lying underneath it all is very poor
scholarship, not enough research, ideas based upon a bad
foundation, and just not at all what it claims to be in solid
study. It certainly is outside the box when you need to be
inside the box. I will comment as we go - Keith Hunt
LOOKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
by Bob Vermaat
"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that gathereth
understanding" (Proverbs 3:13).
When we study our Bibles we will often come across a passage or a
verse where at first will be a little confused as to its meaning,
or, as to what the writer was trying to convey. It has been my
own experience in such instances to dig a little deeper into the
Word, with the help of different translations and in the case of
New Testament Scripture, the use of the Emphatic Diaglott, which
is a word for word translation from the original Greek text into
English. Although the Authorized King James Version is my
personal Bible of choice, I do not hold that it is infallible in
its translations, hence the usage of other translations in my
studies, for by doing so, many questions have been clarified in
my personal understanding of God's Word.
.....
Sound pretty good, right .... well wrong. The correct
understanding of the Greek MSS (manuscripts) is important. On
this Website you will find the introduction to J.P. Green's
Greek/English New Testament. You need to read it. Though there
are mistakes in the KJV it was based upon the sum-total of Greek
MSS. The Emphatic Diaglott (and Fenton's translation, the author
mentions later) was NOT! They, like many modern translation are
based upon two main MSS - the Siniaticus and Vaticanus, not
brought to light until the 19th century. The Siniaticus was
discovered in a garbage basket in a RC monastery in the Middle
East, the monks had agreed it was garbage and needed to be thrown
out with the other trash to be burned. The Vaticanus was on a
back shelf gathering dust in the Vatican for centuries, not given
any worthy position. J.P.Green will give you the rest of the
story, you need to know. The modern translations need to be used
with kid gloves and J.P.Green's "majority text" of the Greek MSS
is the most trust-worthy.
Keith Hunt
......
Having said all this I would now like to look at Acts 17:22-31
and in particular verse 26. "Then Paul stood in the midst of
Mars' hill, and said, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all
things you are very religious. For as I passed by, and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE
UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him I declare
unto you. God, who made the world and all things in it, seeing
that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and
all things; (And hath made of one blood all nations of men to
dwell on all the face of the earth), and hath determined the
times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. That
they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after him,
and find him, though he is not far from every one of us; For in
him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain also of
your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to
think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, carved
by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God
overlooked, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge this
world in righteousness by that man [Jesus] whom he hath ordained;
concerning which he hath given assurance unto all in that he hath
raised him from the dead."
The word offspring as used in verses 28 and 29 is from the Greek
word "genos" meaning race. The reference is to the creation-work
of God, in which He made man in His own likeness (Gen. 1:26-27).
So this brings me to verse 26 of Acts 17 which is my main
argument of this lesson. If we read the first part of this verse
namely, "And hath made of one blood all nations of men", we get
the impression that Paul is saying here that in fact all men
originated from Adam, which is, after all, the mindset of
mainstream Christianity. Yet, in light of Gen. 1:26 and Gen.
2:5-7 many today believe that there were pre-Adamic man. If this
is the case, how could the statement of one blood apply to all
races.
......
Ah, did you catch that? Yes there is a doctrine going around
today that teaches Adam and Eve were NOT the first human beings;
that there were human beings BEFORE Adam was created. Many in the
"British Israel" (this article is from one of their publications)
groups teach and believe this wild and strange, even silly, ideas
of men.
Now I want you to read Genesis 1:26 and 2:5-7. Can you find
anything in those verses that would remotely teach you that there
were other human beings on earth before Adam? I was reading these
chapters of Genesis from age 6 in the Church of England school my
parents sent me to. Never did I ever, from those verses get any
thoughts that Adam and Eve were not the very first humans to be
created by God. I submit to you that a child reading the first
chapters of Genesis would indeed believe Adam and Eve were the
very first created humans.
The idea of a pre-Adamic race of people is not only stupid
reasoning but is also racist, for the teaching goes on to teach
that the Adamic people were special, above the already existent
races of the black, brown, and yellow.
Keith Hunt
......
Another argument is that after the flood all races came through
Noah and his sons. The Bible states that Noah was perfect in his
generations, which means he was of pure Adamic blood. (Gen.6:9).
......
No not so! "Perfect in his generations" has nothing to do with
pure Adamic blood. I have a full study on this issue, you can
find on this Website.
Keith Hunt
......
In Gen. 11 starting at verse 10 we find the generations of Noah's
son, Shem, from which sprang forth the Hebrews, thus the
Caucasian people. That would mean that from the other two sons,
Ham and Japheth, all other races originated. If we go along with
this idea, then we in fact must believe in evolution rather than
creation, for as sons of Noah, Ham and Japheth were also of true
Adamic blood. So again, all races of man from one blood does not
seem to fit.
......
It does not fit Vermaat's thoughts and others like him in this
teaching. They do not understand the truth of Noah's flood, that
it was NOT worldwide but "regional" and a full in-depth study of
that topic is on this Website. Hence the black and brown and
yellow race of people were already on earth from soon after Adam,
and living in different parts of the world. With God nothing is
impossible. The black, brown, and yellow races of people have
their origin in Adam and Eve. For God to put the genes into
making the different race colors of the world, into people from
Adam and Eve, is nothing for God who created the entire universe
of things seen and things not seen. Even today, now and again you
hear about a black child being born to white parents. Some where
in the genes black is there, and like throwing the dice, now and
again black comes up. Rare yes, but it has been recorded to have
taken place. You may have heard the joke "looks like some hanky-
panky was going on with the mailman."
You need to study the truth about Noah's flood and the false
ideas that people have come up with trying to teach that flood
covered the entire earth - it did not.
Keith Hunt
......
So let us look again at the whole passage that I quoted at the
beginning of the article. Paul is here teaching the Greeks, who,
by the way, were of the dispersed Israelites, and who were very
much into idolatry and worshipping numerous gods and idols.
......
That idea of Greeks being dispersed Israelites is weak in
evidence, and for this study we need not but ignore the
statement.
Keith Hunt
......
Paul is here teaching that there is but one God, the creator of
heaven and earth and of all mankind. According to the information
in my possession the word "blood," as found in verse 26, does not
appear in most manuscripts.
......
Weeelll the most MSS are the two I mention above both from the RC
church, one they were ready to burn, the other not important
enough but to be placed on a back dusty shelf in the Vatican
Library for centuries, not worthy to be read.
Keith Hunt
......
Therefore, if we remove the word "blood," as is the case in the
Ferrar Fenton translation and also in the Emphatic Diaglott, we
discover an altogether different spin to this verse 26. Ferrar
Fenton states:
"Because he made by One every race of men." In the Diaglott we
read "And made from One every nation of men." In both cases the
word "one" is capitalized indicating Deity. In the Greek these
words are interchangeable, used by implication and thus basically
mean and say the same thing.
......
The two corrupt translations are corrupt from where they base
their Greek MSS foundation. The Sinai and Vati MSS should have
been thrown on the trash pile as paper fire fuel. But deception
was to be strong in the last days, so strong Jesus said, that
IF it was possible even the very elect would be deceived
(Mat.24). The two corrupt MSS from the RC church has brought
about many a deception and false teaching. This study is but one
of those many.
Another point for the author brings in the "One" idea. Note he
has it as a capital for the letter "O" for making it a capital
adds to his teaching theory.
Keith Hunt
......
This brings me to the "One" and for that I will go to the Gospel
of John where we read in John l:l-3. "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and
without him was not anything made that was made." We all know
that the Word made flesh is none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. If we look at verse 26 in this way we can readily see
that Paul was saying all nations of men were made by One who is
one other than Jehovah God in the Old Testament, or, Jesus Christ
in the New Testament, for they are one and the same.
......
No that is NOT what Paul was trying to say at all. First the
Greek MSS are either all capital letters, one after the other, or
small letters one after the other, no spaces, no punctuation, no
sentences, no paragraphs - all that came centuries later, which a
simple Google search on original Greek MSS will immediately show
you, as to how the writing looked.
Paul was not talking about THE ONE who created all things; he
does that elsewhere in his writings, but not here.
Further, going to the most reliable Greek, the majority text used
by J.P.Green Sr; this is how he translated the Greek for verse
26: "He made of one blood every nation of men to live on all the
face of the earth....."
The word "one" is NOT given a capital "O" and the word "blood" is
in the majority text of the Greek MSS. Yes Green has it in his
Greek/English Interlinear., as does Berry in his Greek/English
Interlinear.
Here, with the Strong's Concordance number is how Green has it:
He made(4160/5037) and of(1537) one(1520) blood(129) every(3956)
nation(1484) of men(444).......
Paul was stating the very plain obvious. All human beings were
created from one blood - the blood of Adam and Eve. Paul
elsewhere makes it clear that it was the Christ who did the
creating for and on behalf of God the Father. That truth can be
found in studies on this Website.
So it is simple to understand what Paul was saying, very plainly
all humans come from the one blood of Adam and Eve. All were
created equal for salvation, all can become the literal sons and
daughters of the Father; we just have to acknowledge this God,
repent of sins, accept Jesus as Savior. All nations of people
stand on the same level playing field when called and chosen to
salvation, and yes true, God had beforehand decided where the
nations would finally live on this planet in the lands we find
them today.
Keith Hunt
......
I hope the little treatise has been informative to you and if you
in the past have found this passage a little confusing, may it
have helped you in your understanding of Acts 17:26. Like the
title of this article implies, don't take everything at face
value. That is, in your studies, think outside the box.
As Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 5:21, "Prove all things; hold
fast that which is good."
......
Well Mr.Vermaat we just did look at your ideas and have found
them wanting on this subject. With the correct majority Greek MSS
your teaching, like others who teach the same, have been blown
out of the water as false doctrines of demons, that Paul warned
would come in the end days of this age (1 Tim.4:1-2).
Mr.Vermaat's study sounds plausible to the untrained scholar, or
to those who do not have all the books and study experience that
I have.
But now you have the other side, the full side, the rest of the
story, as the late Paul Harvey would say.
And we just did prove all things, and we shall hold fast to the
truth, now we know what the truth is!
Keith Hunt
August 2010 - from a publication called "Thy Kingdom Come" - a
publication of The Association of the Covenant People, Burnaby,
B.C. Canada
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